Scientific stations of the USSR
The network of Soviet Antarctic stations began to be created in 1956 in connection with preparations for the International Geophysical Year and the beginning of the activities of Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. The main base, the Mirny observatory, was built on the coast of the Davis Sea. Initially, Soviet Antarctic stations were opened in the central part of the coast and in the depths of East Antarctica. After the IGY, most of these stations were closed. Subsequently, Soviet stations were opened in other areas.
Bellingshausen(62°12" S 58°58" W, 16 m above sea level). The station is located on the southwestern tip of King George Island (Waterloo), on the Fildes Peninsula. The main station facilities are built on an ice-free site on the banks of a stream flowing from a small lake and flowing into Ardley Bay.
King George Island (Waterloo), part of the South Shetland Archipelago, was first mapped by the expedition of F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev in February 1821 and named Waterloo in memory of the famous victory over Napoleon's troops. The name King George was later given to him by the British. Its length is about 80 km, width 30 km, area 1338 km2. Almost all of it is covered with ice, and only the southwestern tip, where the station is located, is free from ice cover. This area has a hilly relief with heights of 100-200 m. Numerous lakes are located between the hills.
The climatic conditions here are milder than in the areas where other Soviet Antarctic stations are located. The average annual temperature is about -4°, in the winter months frosts can reach -27°, but even in the middle of winter there are thaws. In summer the air temperature rises to 6-8° above zero. The sky is overcast almost all the time, precipitation falls almost every day. There are many seals in the station area, including elephant seals and leopard seals, fur seals, and many birds.
The complex of station facilities includes a power station, a radio station, residential, service and storage facilities, an aerological pavilion with a radar, a meteorological platform, fuel tanks and other structures.
The station was opened on February 22, 1968. 11 people remained for the first wintering, in subsequent years the wintering staff increased to 23 people.
Aerometeorological, oceanological, glaciological, geophysical observations, as well as biological and medical research are carried out at the station. In addition, it serves as a base for field route research on the island.
In 1970, the Chilean station President Eduarde Frey was opened on the Fildes Peninsula near the Soviet Bellingshausen station.
East(78°28" S 106°48" E, 3488 m above sea level). The station is located in the depths of East Antarctica in the region of the South geomagnetic pole and the cold pole of our planet. It is located at a distance of 1260 km from the coast and 1410 km from Mirny. The thickness of the ice cover in this area is 3700 m, and the upper layers of snow and firn are more than 60 m.
Clear, partly cloudy weather prevails in the station area with very low temperatures throughout the year. The average annual air temperature is -55°, maximum -13.6°, minimum -88.3°. The round-the-clock polar night lasts almost 4 months (from April 24 to August 20).
The main facilities of the station, located on the snowy surface of the glacial plateau, consist of the main building with a wardroom, a residential building, which is equipped with a small meeting and sports hall, an aerological pavilion with a radar, a power station, a drilling rig building and other service premises. Two forty-meter metal masts rise above the station, on which an antenna is suspended for special geophysical observations. An airstrip is laid 100 meters from the station.
The Vostok station was opened on December 16, 1957. In the first years, the wintering staff consisted of 11-16 people, and since 1970 it increased to 23 people. On January 21, 1962, due to temporary difficulties in supply, the Vostok station was mothballed and no work was carried out on it until January 25, 1963.
The station performs systematic observations in aerometeorology, geophysics, glaciology, as well as medical research. Since 1970, drilling of the ice sheet has been carried out here. In addition, it is the base for field route research in Central Antarctica.
The supply of the station and the change of wintering personnel are carried out from Mirny by aircraft and sledge-caterpillar trains.
Leningradskaya(69°30" S 159°23" E, 300 m above sea level). Located on the Ots Coast (northern coast of Victoria Land). Station facilities are located on an ice-free area on top of the nunatak, one kilometer from the coast. The sea near the station is covered with ice all year round. Fast ice is established near the coast, the width of which reaches 50-60 km by the end of winter. The air temperature in this area is negative for almost the entire year. Only on rare summer days does it rise above zero, while in winter frosts exceed 30-40 °. Hurricanes often rage, accompanied by snowstorms. More than a month and a half, from the end of May to mid-July, the polar night lasts.
The station facilities consist of several houses and outbuildings, which housed living quarters, a wardroom, a medical center, a radio station, a power station, a workshop, a warehouse, a bath-laundry and other services.
The station was opened on February 25, 1971. Observations on meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, oceanology and glaciology are carried out on it. In the first year, the wintering staff of the station consisted of 7, and in subsequent years - 11-13 people. The change of wintering personnel and the supply of the station are carried out by expedition ships. Under favorable conditions, cargo is delivered along fast ice by sledge-caterpillar transport, and when this is not possible, by helicopters and airplanes.
Peaceful(66°33"S, 93°01°E, 35 m above sea level). The Mirny Observatory is located on the coast of the Davis Sea, known as the Pravda Coast. The sea in this area is covered with drift ice and icebergs almost all year round. Fast ice is annually established near the coast, the width of which by the end of winter reaches 30-40 km.
The coast in the Mirny area is characterized by stable and frequent strong winds, as well as negative temperatures throughout almost the entire year. The average air temperature in Mirny is -11.3°, maximum +8°, minimum -40°. The most frequent storms and hurricanes in winter, accompanied by snowstorms. The observatory is located exactly on the Arctic Circle, so there is no round-the-clock polar night here. During the polar day in December, thanks to refraction, even at midnight the sun does not fall below the horizon; however, this is observed only for a few days.
The buildings of the scientific village were built partly on outcrops of bedrock, and partly on the surface of a glacier 80-100 m thick. In 1973, the reconstruction of Mirny began. On the ice-free hills of Komsomolskaya and Radio, three large two-story houses were built, which housed living quarters, laboratories, a wardroom, a radio station and other service premises. On the tops of the hills Komsomolskaya and Morena, as well as on a small island, there are fuel depots.
In the area of the observatory on the surface of the glacier, a runway for planes on skis is equipped. The observatory has a large fleet of tracked vehicles (tractors, tractors, all-terrain vehicles) used to unload ships and supply Vostok station.
The Mirny observatory was opened on February 13, 1956. Until 1971, it was the main base of the Soviet Antarctic expeditions. Wintering staff 57-145 people. A wide range of aerometeorological and geophysical research is carried out in Mirny. Systematic glaciological, oceanological, biological observations and medical research are also carried out. In addition, Mirny is a base for field route research in the depths of the continent and on the coast, as well as a supply base for the Vostok inland station.
Youth(67°40" S 45°50" E, 42 m above sea level). The Soviet Antarctic Meteorological Center Molodezhnaya is located in the western part of Enderby Land on the shores of Alasheev Bay (Cosmonauts Sea). The settlement is located in a small coastal oasis (Tala hills) 0.5-0.6 km from the coast. The oasis is a hilly area with ridges of ice-free and snow-free rocks separated by snow-covered depressions. To the south of the village, the surface of the glacier rises, and already at a distance of 10 km its height reaches more than 500 m.
The climate in the Molodezhnaya area, as well as in the Mirny area, is characterized by negative air temperatures throughout almost the entire year, as well as strong and frequent winds. Air temperatures: average annual -11°, maximum +8.5°, minimum -42°. The Cosmonauts Sea in the Molodyozhnaya area is covered with ice for most of the year. Lots of icebergs. The width of fast ice by the end of winter reaches almost 100 km. The polar night lasts half a month, from June 15 to June 30, and the polar day lasts almost a month and a half, from early December to mid-January.
The construction of Molodezhnaya began on February 23, 1962. Scientific observations began at the same time. However, in the first year it was not possible to provide the station with everything necessary for wintering, and on March 31 it was mothballed. The construction of the station and scientific observations were resumed on January 4, 1963. Since then, work at Molodyozhnaya has been ongoing.
The Molodyozhnaya Scientific Village has more than 70 different structures. These structures include residential buildings, a dining room - a wardroom of the computer building, a receiving and transmitting radio station, a power plant with four diesel generators, a rocket sounding station, an aerological pavilion and other office premises. Fuel depots are metal containers that are periodically replenished by tankers.
In the area of the village on the glacial surface, a runway for ski planes is equipped. The creation of an airfield for heavy aircraft has begun.
During the first two years of the existence of Molodezhnaya station, its wintering staff consisted of only 11-12 people, but in subsequent years, the wintering "population" of Molodyozhnaya gradually increased and in 1971 exceeded 100 people. Starting this year, Molodezhnaya became the main base of the Soviet Antarctic Expeditions. The management of wintering expeditions is located here, and the station itself has turned into the Antarctic Meteorological Center A complex of agrometeorological and geophysical studies is being carried out on Molodyozhnaya (including rocket sounding of the atmosphere, receiving satellite information, radar of meteor trails, etc.), as well as observations in oceanology , glaciology, biological and medical research. In addition, the collection of meteorological information from all Soviet Antarctic stations and its primary processing (with the help of the Minsk-32 computer) are entrusted to Molodyozhnaya. Molodezhnaya is also the base for field route research in the adjacent areas of East Antarctica.
The supply and change of personnel is carried out with the help of expedition ships, for the unloading of which helicopters and airplanes are used.
Novolazarevskaya(70°46"S 11°50"E, 99 m a.s.l.) Located on bedrock outcrops at the eastern end of the Schirmacher Oasis on the coast of Queen Maud Land, about 80 km from the coast of the Lazarev Sea To the north from the station, towards the sea, the slightly undulating surface of the ice shelf extends, and from the south, the slope of the continental ice sheet, the surface of which already 50 km from the station reaches a height of 1000 m.
The sea in this region is covered with drifting ice all year round; by the end of winter, fast ice reaches a width of 15-25 km. The average annual air temperature in the station area is -11°, the minimum is -41°, the maximum is +9.9° Often, especially in winter, hurricane winds blow, accompanied by strong snowstorms. The polar night lasts about two months.
The station facilities consist mainly of wooden prefabricated panel houses, which house living quarters, a wardroom, a power station, a radio station, scientific laboratories, warehouses and other service premises.
There are runways on the surface of the glacier near the station. The station was opened on January 18, 1961. It carries out a complex of observations in aerometeorology, geophysics, glaciology, oceanology, as well as
medical research is underway. The station serves as a base for field route research in the adjacent areas of the mainland.
Station staff - 12-23 people. The change of personnel and the supply of the station are carried out by expedition ships and ground sledge-caterpillar transport.
Soviet Antarctic stations, previously operating
Station Oasis January 21, 1959 transferred to the Polish People's Republic, was named Dobrovolska.
Half a century ago, on February 22, 1968, one of the first Soviet polar stations, Bellingshausen, was opened, which received its name in honor of the discoverer of Antarctica Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen. For its construction, they chose King George Island, which is part of the South Shetland Islands. The employees of the station, like other temporary settlers of the Antarctic, have been and are engaged in geographical, geological, and biological studies of the continent. Antarctica is still unexplored, new scientific data about it can be obtained every day. In the summer, about five thousand people work on the mainland, and no more than a thousand remain for the winter.
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Karsten Borchgrevink Antarctic Station The end of the 19th century was a heroic era in the history of Antarctic research. The first polar station was built in 1889 by the Norwegian explorer Carsten Borchgrevink and was an insulated hut that has survived to this day.
The first capital building here was the so-called Omond House, erected by the Scottish National Expedition in 1903. Interestingly, the walls of this house are made of local stones without the use of mortar. The roof was made of wood and ship's canvas. |
In Antarctica, many abandoned buildings from different years have survived to this day; today they are visited mainly by tourists.
Permanent stations in Antarctica began to be actively built in the 1940s. Territorial claims to the mainland were then voiced by Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and Chile. In 1954, an Australian station appeared here, in 1956 - a French one (Dumont d'Urville), an American one (McMurdo, one of the largest) and a Soviet one (Mirny).
In 1959, an international treaty on Antarctica was signed. The document provides for the demilitarization of the mainland, its transformation into a nuclear-free zone and its use in the interests of all mankind for the sake of scientific research. The sixth continent also does not have any institutions of power and citizenship. But it has its own flag and even an Internet domain - .aq.
All Antarctic explorers face local harsh climatic conditions. On the mainland, the temperature is usually -20-25 °C, and in 1983, a record temperature of -89.2 °C was recorded near the Russian Vostok station.
About 70% of the fresh water of the planet Earth is concentrated in the ice of Antarctica. Despite this, the sixth continent is famous for its unusually dry air. No more than 10 cm of precipitation falls here per year. One of the most interesting places here is the so-called McMurdo dry valleys, covering an area of about 8,000 square kilometers. These valleys are almost free of ice - so strong winds blow here. For millennia, there was no precipitation at all in this region.
There are no time zones in Antarctica. The researchers who are here live according to the time of their states. And wherever you look, everywhere is north.
Curiously, once Antarctica had its own nuclear power plant. It functioned for almost 12 years, from 1960 to 1972, and was located at the American McMurdo station. Now energy is produced here with the help of solar panels and wind turbines. In addition, at every opportunity, fuel is thrown onto the mainland.
The area of polar stations with all the buildings and equipment is usually small - this is especially noticeable from the air - but inside there is always everything you need for year-round living, including a canteen, a hospital and a gym.
There are even small shops at large stations frequented by tourists. In addition, the southernmost bar in the world is located in Antarctica - at the Akademik Vernadsky station, which belongs to Ukraine.
The true geographic and the so-called ceremonial South Pole are two different things. The first is inconspicuous, and the second is surrounded by flags and is a favorite place for photographing tourists who have reached here.
A trip to the South Pole today can be safely called the most expensive trip in the world: a flight from Chile or South Africa will cost several tens of thousands of dollars. Also, several tens of thousands of people annually sail to the coast on cruise ships, but no more than a hundred get deep into the continent and reach the very pole.
Photo: DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI / Contributor / Getty Images, Probably William Speirs Bruce, 1867-1921 / commons.wikimedia.org Marketa Jirouskova / Getty Images, Delta Images / Getty Images, Martin Harvey / Getty Images, Hubertus Kanus (x2 ) / Getty Images, Johner Images / Getty Images, cunfek / Getty Images, Hubertus Kanus / Getty Images, WanRu Chen / Getty Images, Stefan Christmann / Getty Images, David Merron Photography (in announcement) / Getty Images, SammyVision / Getty Images, wigwam press / Getty Images, Grant Dixon / Getty Images, DR. DAVID MILLAR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images
Exist., number of synonyms: 1 polar (4) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary
polar station- A place of constant observation on the coast of a continent or an island in the Arctic Ocean, as well as in Antarctica ... Geography Dictionary
This term has other meanings, see Borneo (meanings). Borneo is the Russian Arctic ice polar station, located about 100 kilometers from the North Pole. Opened on March 30, 2009 after a week of construction, ... ... Wikipedia
BELLINGSHAUSEN, the first Russian polar station (since 1968) off the coast of the West. Antarctica (see ANTARCTIS) on about. King George (Waterloo), in arch. South Shetland Islands (see SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS). Named after F. F. Bellingshausen (see ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
BARD, American inland polar station (1957-72), now Mary Byrd's seasonal research base on Earth (see MARY BARD EARTH) in Zap. Antarctica, at an altitude of 1530 m, 660 km from the coast ... encyclopedic Dictionary
- "VOSTOK", the Russian polar station in the region of the South geomagnetic pole (see GEOMAGNETIC POLES) in East Antarctica, at an altitude of 3488 m, 1250 km from the coast. It has been operating since December 1957. The Pole of Cold (see POLE OF COLD) of the Earth (approx. 90 ° C). ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
DAVIS (Davis), Australian polar station on the coast of the bay. Prydz (East Antarctica). Works since 1957 (with a break in 1964 69). Named after the captain of the Aurora expedition ship, J.K. Davies... encyclopedic Dictionary
Syowa (Syowa), Japanese polar station on about. East Ongul, near the coast of Queen Maud Land (see QUEEN MAUD LAND) in Vost. Antarctica. Opened in 1957, has been operating continuously since 1966 ... encyclopedic Dictionary
SCOTT, New Zealand polar station (since 1957) on the southern coast of the Ross Peninsula in the Ross Sea (see ROSSA SEA) (West Antarctica), 2 km west of the American base McMurdo (see MAKMURDO). Named for R. Scott (see SCOTT Robert Falcon) ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Ellsworth, Filchner Ice Shelf Research Station (77° 43 S, 41° 07 W). Opened by the USA February 11, 1957; transferred to Argentina in 1959. In 1957‒62, meteorological, actinometric, geophysical and ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Books
- Polar Station Z, McLean Alistair. In the ice of the harsh Arctic Ocean, the polar station "Z" is in distress. The fire that broke out on its territory killed half of the employees, leaving the survivors without heat, food and light. On the…
- Polar Station Z, McLean Alistair. In the ice of the harsh Arctic Ocean, the polar station `Zet` is in distress. The fire that broke out on its territory killed half of the employees, leaving the survivors without heat, food and light. On the…
February 13, 1956 the first Soviet Antarctic station - "Mirny". It was the beginning of the great history of the development of the southern continent by our country, which continues to this day. And today we will talk about the seven most famous and important domestic stations in Antarctica.
The name "Mirny" is taken from the legendary sloop, one of the ships of the expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev, who discovered Antarctica in January 1820. The second ship, Vostok, also gave the name to the Soviet and then Russian polar station.
In its best years, the Mirny station was home to 150-200 polar explorers, but lately its team has consisted of 15-20 explorers. And the function of managing all Russian bases in Antarctica was transferred to the more modern Progress station.
The Vostok-1 station was founded on May 18, 1957 in the interior of Antarctica, 620 kilometers from the Mirny base. But already on December 1, the facility was closed, and the equipment was transported even deeper into the continent, to a place that eventually became known as the Vostok station (its date of birth is December 16, 1957).
Vostok became the most famous Soviet and Russian Antarctic station thanks to the record low temperature recorded there in 1983 - minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. It was "beaten" only thirty years later - in December 2013 at the Japanese station Fuji Dome, where a temperature mark of minus 91.2 degrees was noticed.
At the Vostok station, aero-meteorological, geophysical, glaciological and medical studies have been and are being carried out, where they study "ozone holes" and the properties of materials at low temperatures. And at a depth of three kilometers, it was under this station that the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica was discovered, which received the same name - Vostok.
The place where Vostok is located is one of the most severe from the weather point of view. The events of Vladimir Sanin's heroic books "72 degrees below zero", "Newbie in Antarctica" and "Trapped" take place at the station. According to these works, popular feature films were shot in Soviet times.
Pole of inaccessibility - the most remote station
The Pole of Inaccessibility Station, which existed for just under two weeks in December 1958, went down in history for two reasons. Firstly, it is located at the point of the same name in Antarctica, the most distant from the coast of the continent. The opening of the object in this place was the answer of the Soviet polar explorers to the appearance of the American base "Amundsen-Scott" at the South Pole.
Secondly, the "Pole of Inaccessibility" was decorated with a bust of Lenin, mounted on top of the pyramid that crowned the station building. This figure still rises above the icy plains of Antarctica, even when the structure itself is covered with snow.
Novolazarevskaya - polar station with a sauna
Replacing the station "Lazarev" closed in 1961, "Novolazarevskaya" thundered throughout the Soviet Union, which became a legendary event, when the doctor Leonid Rogozov performed a unique operation - he cut out an inflamed appendicitis himself.
"While you're here in the tile bath
Wash, bask, warm yourself, -
He is in the cold with his own scalpel
It cuts out the appendix- Vladimir Vysotsky sang about this human feat.
And in 2007, Novolazarevskaya again appeared on the front pages of Russian newspapers and news sites. The first and still the only Russian banya in Antarctica was opened there!
Bellingshausen - polar station with a church
"Bellingshausen" is not just a Russian research station in the southern latitudes, it is the spiritual center of Russian Antarctica. After all, on its territory is the Church of the Holy Trinity, brought there disassembled from Russia in 2004.
Since Bellingshausen is located in close proximity to the Chilean, Uruguayan, Korean, Brazilian, Argentinean, Polish and Peruvian stations, the employees of the latter regularly go to services in a Russian church - there are no others nearby.
Youth - the former "capital" of Antarctica
For a long time, Molodyozhnaya station was considered the capital of Soviet Antarctica. After all, it was the largest object of its kind. About seventy buildings, lined up in the streets, functioned at the base. There were not only residential complexes and research laboratories, but also an oil depot and even an airfield capable of receiving such large aircraft as the IL-76.
The station has been in operation since 1962. Up to 150 people could live and work on it at the same time. But in 1999, the Russian flag was lowered, the once year-round base was first completely mothballed, and in 2006 it was switched to seasonal mode.
Progress is the center of the Russian presence in Antarctica
Now the main Russian polar station is Progress. It was opened in 1989 as a seasonal one, but over time, it “built up” the infrastructure and became permanent. In 2013, Progress opened a new wintering complex with a gym and sauna, fitness equipment, modern hospital equipment, tennis and billiard tables, as well as living rooms, research laboratories and a galley.Bonus
Academician Vernadsky - a British gift to Ukrainian polar explorers
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia claimed ownership of all the former Soviet stations in Antarctica, refusing Ukraine's bid to gain control of one of them. However, in 1996, the former Soviet republic got its own base on the southern continent. Great Britain handed over to Kyiv its station "Faraday", which after the "change of citizenship" received the name "Academician Vernadsky".
In addition to scientific activities, Ukraine also conducts commercial activities at Akademik Vernadsky. This facility houses the only bar in Antarctica where employees of nearby foreign stations gather for gatherings, as well as a souvenir shop (the Ukrainian base is one of the centers of polar tourism).
There is also a chapel of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir - the southernmost religious building in the world (the Russian Church of the Holy Trinity is located a little to the north).
Polar stations, icebreaking fleet and aviation became the three pillars on which regular Arctic shipping relied. In navigation, the stations transmitted information about the weather and the state of ice to ships and aircraft, maintained radio communications, and gave bearings to navigators to determine the exact position in the sea and in the air.
During these years, the standard infrastructure of the polar station was formed. This silhouette of the Arctic settlement has been preserved to this day. One or several residential buildings can accommodate a radio room and a meteorological room; a bathhouse, a diesel engine (“mechanka”), warehouses, and a garage are usually placed nearby. In the distant legendary years, a dog house (or dog houses) for sled dogs was certainly set up on the territory of the station, and in some places a barn for keeping livestock was also equipped. Initially, DC batteries served as a source of energy. The premises were heated with wood and coal. At the end of the 1930s, the first wind power units appeared, and in the 1960s and 1970s, the power supply of the stations was transferred to diesel-electric units. The staff of the polar station is the head, one or two meteorologists, a hydrologist, two to four radio operators, a cook, a mechanic (in the early years - an attendant, calculator or musher). In addition, doctors, aerologists, actinometrists, magnetologists, specialists in atmospheric electricity, radio waves, biologists, geologists and crews of light aircraft worked at large stations. As a rule, these were close-knit and friendly teams, where people rubbed each other in common work. Yes, and the whole Arctic then lived as one big family: they celebrated holidays together on the radio, transmitted news to the mainland, conducted political information, met, fell in love, played chess, took birth and saw off on their last journey ... In October 1928, on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, she entered the station was put into operation under the leadership of Nikolai Pinegin, a member of the Sedov expedition. In 1929, the first domestic station on the Franz Josef Land archipelago was opened at the wintering site of the St. Foka in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island. Three years later, on Rudolf Island, at a latitude of 81 ° 48 ′, another - the most northern in the world - polar station appeared. In 1930, a polar station on Severnaya Zemlya went on the air, deployed by a brave four pioneers under the leadership of G. A. Ushakov on Domashny Island. Time showed that the place on the alluvial spit of the island was chosen unsuccessfully, so in 1954 the station was moved to Golomyanny Island.
The history of this polar station has remained in the biography of the Arctic as one of the most striking examples of reasonable heroism, collective cohesion, thoughtfulness of actions that gave a result that was amazing in its effectiveness. The actions of a tiny expedition, consisting of only four people, over the course of several years mapped an entire archipelago, while the polar station, meanwhile, regularly broadcast weather data. The opening of new polar stations continued systematically. In 1931, a station began to operate in the very north of Novaya Zemlya - Cape Zhelaniya. The station at Cape Zhelaniya was of great importance for the development of marine industries, and became a base for industrialists.
In 1932, stations went on the air in Russkaya Gavan, on the Gydan Peninsula and on Cape Chelyuskin. The latter was significantly expanded and two years later acquired the status of an integrated hydrometeorological station. It was headed by ID Papanin, who later became the head of the first drifting station "North Pole". By the way, the future participant of the legendary drift E. K. Fedorov also worked with Papanin at Cape Chelyuskin. The polar station bears his name today.
In the eastern sector of the Arctic, the network of stations developed rapidly, covering a vast territory with its coverage. By the beginning of this process (in the 1930s), only two stations operated here, opened on Wrangel Island and on Cape Shalaurov. In 1932, stations were opened to the west of the Anabar Bay, in the bays of Nordvik and Tiksi. In 1933, polar stations were launched on Chetyrekhstolbovoy Island in the Medvezhiy Islands archipelago, on Cape Schmidt and in the extreme east of Chukotka, in the village of Uelen. The station in the Sannikov Strait, founded on the southern coast of the Kotelny Island of the Novosibirsk Archipelago, studied the strait, its suitability for navigation of ships, which until then had sailed only through the Laptev Strait. The studies made it possible, if necessary, to make the Sannikov Strait the second possible passage for ships in this navigation area. The polar station in one of the most inaccessible regions of the Arctic, on the De Long archipelago, made it possible to study its islands, only discovered, but never explored. The station contributed to the development of polar aviation and its penetration further north.
The practice of building a network of polar stations has created the primary base of the weather service in the Arctic region of Russia, making it safer for development. If about fifteen polar stations were opened in the western Arctic in 1933-1942, then in the Eastern Arctic their number increased to about thirty over the same period, and they also penetrated into such distant corners of the region as Henrietta Island. By the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, the network of polar stations in Arctic Russia consisted of 75 units, including 32 in the Barents and Kara Seas, 16 in the Laptev Sea, 14 in the East Siberian Sea, and 14 in the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait. 13 stations. The war did not bypass the Soviet polar stations. Some of them became objects of attacks by submarines and landing of their crews. On July 26, 1942, in Malye Karmakuly, a seaplane and a wind turbine were destroyed by artillery fire from the German submarine U-601 within 40-50 minutes, two warehouses were burned, and a radio station building was destroyed by two shells. On the morning of September 8 of the same year, the U-251 submarine fired at the polar station of Solitude Island for half an hour. The shells hit a residential building, a radio station, and outbuildings. But the radio equipment was not damaged. The station continued to operate. On September 18, 1943, the submarine U-711 destroyed the remote polar station on Pravda Island in the Nordenskiöld archipelago. The meteorologists, fortunately, managed to hide in the rocks. On September 24, the same boat destroyed the polar station in the Gulf of Prosperity (it was not restored again). In September 1944, two Kriegsmarine submarines approached the polar station at Cape Sterlegov and landed troops. At three o'clock in the morning the Germans surrounded the residential building of the station, where the winterers were. The Germans insisted on the transfer to Dixon of all the scheduled radiograms. An alarm transmitted in one of them was not recognized. The buildings of the polar station, destroyed by the fire of the submarine, burned to the ground. Five employees were taken prisoner. On August 12, 1944, the submarine U-365 sank the vessel "Marina Raskova" with hydrometeorological service workers on board in the area of Bely Island, along with security ships.
362 people died. It was the largest wartime disaster in the Arctic. Many stations in the central sector of the Arctic were left without a change ... German forces were a real threat to the work of defenseless polar stations. In addition, the Germans created their own permanent weather station on the westernmost island of the FJL - Alexandra Land - and installed several automatic weather stations. After all, information about the weather and the state of ice has acquired a strategic character. Operational and tactical planning of military operations in the Arctic became impossible without taking into account weather conditions. The presence of the Germans at the FJL became known only after the war, and in the place where their weather station was based, in 1952, the third polar station in the archipelago, Nagurskaya, was opened. Five years later, on Franz Josef Land, on Heiss Island, the largest station here was opened: the polar observatory Druzhnaya, renamed in 1972 into the E. T. Krenkel Observatory. In the 70s and 80s it was the largest research settlement in the archipelago. In 1959, a polar station was opened on about. Victoria. But the station on Hooker Island, which is part of the archipelago, was closed in 1960 due to an inconvenient location and constant problems with the source of fresh water. The “childhood illnesses” of the period of the creation of the network of polar stations were successfully overcome over time, the technology of their work was debugged, and scientific work at high latitudes on the basis of stationary conditions unfolded on an enviable scale. Statistics show that in the 1920s polar stations covered mainly the Kara Sea basin. In the 1930s, new stations evenly covered the entire Arctic coast. In the 1940s, new polar ships mastered the most ice-heavy area of the Vilkitsky Strait and Northern Yakutia.
